RIP 9/20/07 I JUST NOTICED this re KEN LEESTMA "news from Hope College"

I remember Ken from Crystal Cathedral days.
Always friendly:
"Kenneth N. Leestma '52 of Seal Beach, Calif., died on
Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007. He was 81.
He was born in Holland, Mich., the first child of Peter
and Martha Leestma, and grew up in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Following high school, he served in the Army Air Corps
as staff sergeant in Japan.
After the war, he graduated from Hope and from
Western Theological Seminary.
He was then ordained and called to be the founding
pastor of Lincoln Avenue Community Church in Pomona,
Calif. This marked the beginning of his fifty-three-year
career as a pastor to congregations across the nation
and the world.
Following his ministry in Pomona, after overseeing the
building of a new sanctuary there, he was called to
Bethel Reformed Church, Sheldon, Iowa. His family now
numbered seven.
In 1966 with wife Bette, David, Pamela, Daniel, Mary and
Mark, he moved to Bradenton, Fla., serving Bayshore
Gardens Reformed Church. A new educational building
was completed there just before he accepted a call from
El Dorado Park Community Church, Long Beach, Calif., to
serve as a co-pastor with his colleague and childhood
friend William Miedema '50. Being back in California
seemed to complete his coast-to-coast ministry.
In 1975, he was called to New Life Community Church in
Artesia as senior pastor. This was the church, formerly
called Artesia Reformed, who first invited the Arcadian
Quartet, representing Hope College, to sing. That
invitation gave the quartet singers, Kenneth Leestma,
William Miedema '50, Warren Hietbrink '47 and Robert H.
Schuller '47 their first taste of California. All four began
ministries in California, Kenneth being the first.
Kenneth first retired in 1991, but was asked by the
Reformed Church in America to serve churches in need
of his pastoral expertise in northern California and as far
as Bahrain before he accepted the call to become the
pastor of congregational care at the Crystal Cathedral.
This in many ways was the position of his lifetime.
Working with a ministry that he knew so well from its
very beginning, being near his family, and sharing the
joys of ministry longevity with his longtime friend Robert
H. Schuller and so many other colleagues, became the
providential finale of his ministry and life.
Most notable among his many accomplishments, Dr. Ken,
as he was affectionately called, earned his doctoral
degree in pastoral ministry and was a president of The
Reformed Church in America (RCA). He represented the
RCA in Japan and India and provided leadership in the
RCA Classis and Synod throughout his entire ministry. He
also served on the Words of Hope radio ministry board
for eight years.
At the memorial service, David Leestma said of his
father, "Dr. Ken made more hospital calls than a medical
doctor and he made friends with everyone he met. A
man of extraordinary humbleness, integrity, kindness
and love for people, he modeled every biblical gift of the
Spirit more often than anyone I ever knew. A gentle giant
of a man who will never leave our memory."
He served Hope as a member of the board of trustees
and was presented with a Distinguished Alumni Award in
1986.
Survivors include his wife, Elizabeth (Bette) Leestma; five
children, David '73 (Cathy Schaub '73) Leestma, Pam
Leestma '75, Dan Leestma, Mary Leestma (Jack) Tackett,
and Mark (Selina) Leestma; and seven grandchildren,
including John (Katie Wierenga '01) Leestma."
http://www.hope.edu/pr/nfhc/archive/expanded200712december.html